The appointment this year of some sort of government ombudsman to act as a fair play mechanism to serve supermarket suppliers if they feel they are getting a bad deal has yet to be officially made.
I still believe that, even when it is in place, nothing will change. But more worryingly, reading between the lines following the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Centenary Conference, and listening to the gossip on the ground, the future of the fresh produce industry will be shaped by an extra dimension.
There has always been a love-hate relationship between buyers and sellers, because of their diametrically opposite roles. This is magnified on an almost daily basis in the case of both UK horticulture and imported fruit and vegetables by the continuously changing market, dictated to by Mother Nature.
When the first supermarkets arrived some 40 years ago, I can attest to the fact that the initial transition away from the wholesale markets was marked by a certain level of sensitivity. But growers and importers tell me that for many, these personal relationships with buyers remain a distant memory.
Growers are at times confronted with new buyers on a steep leaning curve. Even when they have achieved the required level of knowledge over a few seasons, a replacement then arrives, so the learning process starts all over again.
In today’s high street stores, owned by fewer vast customers who are more competitive than ever before, sales are driven by the constant pressure of maintaining profitable performance.
The recent news reported in the FPJ from the NFU conference that Tesco, for example, is asking suppliers to discount so that it can achieve a £3 billion annual profit in March, must rate as one of the most extraordinary tools of leverage since Safeway infamously sent out a poorly worded letter virtually demanding substantial promotional sums per product to help boost its image.
The danger is not so much that the fabric of the trade is being rewoven, or indeed the paucity of knowledge - it is the fear that the image of the UK, instead of being regarded as one of the best markets in the world in terms of sensible returns backed by excellent retailing, might move into the same quagmire which at one point gave the German discounters such an unattractive reputation.
If this happens, international producers may change their priorities by looking for less demanding and more profitable areas of operation elsewhere, and may reduce their investment into research, which in many cases has been geared to come up with the next generation of varieties specifically tailored to the British palate.
Fewer imports may initially sound like good news for our own horticultural industry, particularly at a time when it is being burdened with additional costs ranging from environmental, health and safety measures to escalating fuel bills.
But the UK sector may now be heading for a point where, like the other agricultural sectors which have recently won media headlines, it could already be seriously considering reducing acreage because of lack of profitability.
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